EALTA 2015
The 12th European Association for Language Testing and Assessment (EALTA) conference took place at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, from the 28th to the 31st of May 2015. The conference brought together researchers and practitioners in the field of language testing and assessment. The conference offered an opportunity to listen to renowned experts, get up to date on current research and practical projects, and discuss the latest developments with researchers and practitioners.
Policy and Practice in Language Testing and Assessment
One important use of language testing and assessment is enforcement of language policies established by governments, institutions, and different educational and cultural agencies. For instance, language tests are used, both directly and indirectly, as instruments of social policies, such as citizenship and immigration regulations, but also as part of educational policies, like accountability or educational access opportunities (e.g., college admission). Implementation of standardized and local language assessments, intended to promote and measure quality of education with regard to established national curricula or international assessment standards and frameworks, has become a common practice in many educational contexts. The use of these assessments and their impact on education and society needs critical examination.
The conference theme addresses not only the philosophical and ethical aspects of politics and policy-making in relation to language test and assessment, but also the practical concerns regarding development, validation, and administration of assessment methods and procedures as situated within the social, economic, and historical contexts. These concerns may be explored by a range of empirical, practical or theoretical approaches, projects and research methods.
Dr. Ofra Inbar-Lourie, Tel-Aviv University Israel
Dr. Micheline Chalhoub-Deville, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, the United States of America
Dr. John Field, University of Bedfordshire, United Kingdom
- Slobodanka Dimova, University of Copenhagen (co-chair)
- Joyce Kling, University of Copenhagen (co-chair)
Pre-Conference workshop
The conference offered three pre-conference workshops from Tuesday 26th to Thursday 28th of May 2015. See the workshop outlines here:
- Performance-based testing: Rating scales and raters
- Self-assessment, the CEFR, and the ELP
- Standard setting - how to implement good practice
Main conference
Programme for the main conference.
Special Interest Groups (SIG meetings)
- The EALTA Special Interest Group for Classroom-Based Language Assessment
- The EALTA Special Interest Group for Assessment of Writing and Assessment for Academic Purposes
- The EALTA Special Interest Group for CEFR
- The EALTA Special Interest Group for Speaking (no programme).
EALTA 2015
